Recap: Ottawa vs. Nashville

Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Robin Lehner made 33 saves, including 15 in the third period, to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

Bobby Ryan, Alex Chiasson and Jared Cowen all had second-period goals in the Senators' second victory in their last three games.

"We hadn't played in a few days, and I think they had a little more speed than us coming out," Lehner said. "I think we made it difficult for ourselves, putting the puck in the wrong spots, but I think we came out in the second and third and played the right way, really worked at it. We tried to outwork them and that's what paid off in the end."

Shea Weber and Olli Jokinen each scored for the Predators, who were coming off a 9-2 rout of Toronto on Tuesday.

The Predators were buzzing early, but Lehner kept the Senators in the game. Colin Wilson generated several chances for Nashville but was unable to break through.

Nashville did open the scoring just 3:17 into the game on Weber's one-time blast on a power play, and it took until the second period for the Senators to respond. Ryan wristed a shot past Nashville goalie Carter Hutton on a power play for his fifth goal of the season.

Now controlling play, Ottawa went up 2-1 at the 12:18 mark of the second when Chiasson deflected a Cody Ceci shot past Hutton. Just over two minutes later, Cowen scored his first of the season when the defenseman jumped into the play and flicked a wrister into the back of the net.

Not long before Ottawa's three goals in quick succession, Hutton appeared to be slow to get up after being bumped at the side of the net while covering the puck up. He would stay in the game and make 16 saves on 19 shots.

Hutton was making just his third appearance of the season, giving starting netminder Pekka Rinne a rare night off.

"You don't play that often, you have to be better," Hutton said. "You still have to get wins when you play. I'm a competitive person and I want to be able to help my team win games when I'm called upon. Tonight I didn't get the job done."

Jokinen scored his first goal as a Predator 1:16 into the third period, when he pounced on a loose puck in front of the net temporarily vacated by Lehner to cut the lead to 3-2.

Lehner would survive Nashville's pressure, though, and make the 13 final stops of the game, including a good short-handed opportunity from Roman Josi.

With the extra skater on the ice for the Predators, James Neal fired two shots wide of the net as time was winding down, and another Nashville opportunity from Filip Forsberg was deflected just wide of Lehner.

Game Notes

Nashville lost its first game this season when leading after one period... The
teams split the season series after Nashville beat Ottawa 3-2 in the season
opener... Ottawa's Zack Smith played in his 300th NHL game and teammate Clarke
MacArthur played in his 500th.